Cavs 16: Frye and Company Come Up Big in Atlanta

The Cleveland Cavaliers traveled to Atlanta with a 2-0 series lead over the Hawks. The Cavs were coming off their best shooting game ever! They set an NBA record by knocking down 25 three pointers. Cleveland hoped to keep the momentum going while traveling on the road.

Fortunately, they did just that. The Cavs shot 53.8% from downtown making 21 three-pointers overall. It was another great team victory as the Big-3 all scored 20+ points and the bench came up huge, specifically Channing Frye, but we’ll get to that later.

Meanwhile, the game itself was beyond entertaining. Both teams duked it out going back and forth exchanging shots. However, the hometown Hawks held a 91-85 advantage entering the fourth quarter. The game was their’s to lose and that’s exactly what happened. Atlanta suffered through a four minute scoring drought and watched the Cavs outscore them 36-17 in the final period.

Needless to say, the Hawks fumbled their chances at taking a game in the series. They hit just two shots and turned the ball over four times to close out the game. In fact, the Cavs scored 22 of the final 27 points as the Hawks went cold.

The changing point occurred with six minutes and some change remaining in the game. Atlanta was desperately hanging onto a two-point lead when it happened. LeBron James was left wide open beyond the arc. He had all day to shoot, he dribbled up to the line, calmly set himself, locked in and let it fly. James’ three gave Cleveland the 104-103 advantage and its first lead since the second quarter.

However, the headline of the night belongs to Channing Frye. The mid-season acquisition was lights out shooting the basketball, hitting seven of his nine three-point attempts and going 10 for 13 from the field. He set a career playoff high, 27 points, en route of the Hawks. Frye came up huge in the fourth with 11 points by sinking all three of his shots from beyond the arc.